Politics

Arizona Bill Targets Ethnic Studies. No, I’m Not Kidding.

Really Arizona legislature? Really Governor Jan Brewer? This is the time when you decide to make this switch?

And, from Politico, the text of the bill reads like some of the craziest satire…

“Public school pupils should be taught to treat and value each other as individuals and not be taught to resent or hate other races or classes of people,” the text of the bill reads.

Haha, so…that legislation you passed several weeks doesn’t teach people to resent other races or classes of people? Hmmm….

Here’s more from this wacky law…

The law prohibits the teaching of any classes that promote “the overthrow of the United States government,” “resentment toward a race or class of people,” “are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” or “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

Neither the governor nor the bill’s supporters have identified examples where a Chicano studies class has advocated the “overthrow” of the federal government, and the bill’s opponents in the state have expressed outrage over what they see as a law that unfairly targets Hispanics.

The Tucson Unified School District program offers specialized courses in African-American, Mexican-American and Native-American studies that focus on history and literature and include information about the influence of a particular ethnic group.

For example, in the Mexican-American Studies program, an American history course explores the role of Hispanics in the Vietnam War, and a literature course emphasizes Latino authors.

So then…how many of you have taken ethnic studies classes in college? Remember them? If so, remember how they were EXACTLY like what’s described in the above quoted passage? If not, please tell me, but that’s what I remember.

But now we find the real reason why this is happening…political opportunism…

[State schools chief Tom] Horne, a Republican running for attorney general, said the program promotes “ethnic chauvinism” and racial resentment toward whites while segregating students by race. He’s been trying to restrict it ever since he learned that Hispanic civil rights activist Dolores Huerta told students in 2006 that “Republicans hate Latinos.”

Really? You’re going to not only get offended but also quote a civil rights activist?

Another question…it seems like the only schools affected are in Tucson, but obviously bills have broader implications once passed. What about the universities? Are they prohibited from teaching Chicano studies or Black studies classes?

The answer is no, not at all. In fact, apparently no ethnic studies classes at all will be affected in any way whatsoever…

The measure doesn’t prohibit classes that teach about the history of a particular ethnic group, as long as the course is open to all students and doesn’t promote ethnic solidarity or resentment.

But hey, thank whatever deity you believe in for laws that solve problems that haven’t even started yet. Whew!

And, by the way, for those of you who have taken any sort of ethnic studies classes…did you ever advocate overthrowing the government or hating people of other races after you took them? Sure, some may build up a healthy disdain for those forefathers and foremothers who violently discriminated against folks just because they were different, but unless “learn to hate people of other races” is in the curriculum, it’s up to the individual to not place the sins of the past on the present’s shoulders.

Of course, you know what might cause hate and resentment towards an ethnic group?